Hamas Samaria Terror Cell Busted

It was released for publication that the killers of two IDF soldiers and perpetrators of the Ariel Junction shooting were caught last month.

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Ezra HaLevi, 26/12/07 08:30

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It was released for publication that the killers of two IDF soldiers and perpetrators of the Ariel Junction shooting were caught last month.

A Hamas cell in the Shechem region was nabbed in a joint Shabak (General Security Service) and IDF operation. The terrorists admitted responsibility for the shooting attack near Migdalim on January 7, 2005, in which two IDF soldiers were murdered.

The terrorists also admitted that they carried out several shooting attacks against Israelis in Shechem and the environs, including the shooting attack at the Ariel Junction, this past October 24, in which a soldier was seriously wounded and a civilian wounded lightly.

The men revealed that they had taken advantage of eased restrictions and the ability of PA Arabs to travel the roads near Jewish communities freely to carry out reconnaissance for days in the area. They then bought a GMC van with Israeli license plates from an Israeli Arab, and used it in the shooting attack itself.

The terrorists who carried out the Ariel shooting attack were Abdallah Kuka, 19, who drove the van; Amin Kuka, 32; and A'mar Tanbur, 23 – both of whom carried out the shooting from the vehicle’s open windows. Riad Arafat, 34, carried out the reconnaissance and Suhil Kuka, 21, helped the terrorists hide and destroy evidence following the shooting.

After shooting an IDF soldier and civilian waiting at a bus stop, the terrorists continued to drive toward the Arab village of Jamma’in, south of Shechem, where they set the van on fire and got in a waiting PA Arab taxi.

Amin and Suhil Kuka, also carried out the murder of two IDF soldiers at Migdalim. The two dressed in IDF uniforms, stopped a vehicle and opened fire at the Israeli passengers inside. Two IDF soldiers, St.-Sgt. Yosef Atia and 2nd Lt. Ariel Buda, were killed in the attack and two other soldiers were lightly wounded. The other members of the cell took supporting roles in that attack.

According to IDF sources, “The exposure of the terrorist cell and the incriminating evidence uncovered against it, indicate that despite its pretensions to the contrary, Hamas operatives are - at present - intensively planning to perpetrate attacks against Israelis in Judea, Samaria, the Gaza Strip, as well as in Israel proper. Hamas’s actions are manifested in the planning of terrorist attacks, and the maintaining of attack capability and organizational strength, all of which are designed to strengthen Hamas as the leader of Palestinian terrorism.”